Hiro's Transformation
by Indecisive Narcissist
Summary: Hiro is an incompetent meister and everyone in Death Weapon Meister Academy knows it. Not counting Excalibur, he has yet to find a weapon that is compatible with his soul wavelength. Maybe Hiro wasn't cut out to be a meister. If so, then it raises the question: why is he still there? Join Hiro as he finds his place in the DWMA. I do not own Soul Eater or any of its characters.
1. Haunting Nightmares

I'm not sure where this is going but this idea came to my head and I just had to write it down.

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**Chapter 1: **

**Haunting Nightmares! **

**Will Hiro Ever Sleep In Peace?**

It was the middle of the night and Hiro woke up in a cold sweat. His breathing was ragged, trying to get a hold of the fact that he was now awake. His hands clung to his sheets for dear life. This has been the third night that he woke up so abruptly and it was all because of these reoccurring nightmares that he's been having. Each night he wakes up in the same condition, trying so hard to figure out what was happening to him or what those dreams meant.

It started the night after Hiro returned Excalibur to the cave in the northern part of the British Isles. After ridding himself of the sneezing holy sword, he counted it as a blessing and carried on with his day as the DWMA's favorite errand boy. He had to make a few apologizes afterwards, to the people that he's fried and the women that he harassed. It didn't go too bad; a few threats and the occasional revenge punch here and there but there wasn't anything too serious. Hiro guessed that everything should go back to the way it was by the end of the week. But these nightmares were just too much.

Tomorrow, he needed to talk with Dr. Stein. Hiro always had a thing against going to that mad scientist for help when it came to homework, a fear of the situation leading to the doctor strapping the young blonde to a table and carving him open like a Thanksgiving turkey. But this time, he was willing to make an exception.

**~The Next Day~**

Wearing his usual linear patterned light purple pants, white shirt with only one buttoned button, extremely loosened black tie, and white shoes, the blonde meister trudged through the hallways of the DWMA with a brown bag filled with sandwiches and sodas.

His friends—well if he was being honest they were just people who knew his name—wanted some lunch and Hiro was the first person they asked to go out and fetch it. Never being one that could say no, he asked what they wanted, remembered their orders, and went out of his way to go get it. On his way back, being deprived of sleep his mind wander to figure out why he was stuck in such a life of buying lunch for people. But as quickly as the question entered his head, an answer was given: he was a completely incompetent meister.

There was no point in sugar-coating the statement; everyone knew it. His teachers knew it. Every single student that walked through the halls of the Demon Weapon Meister Academy knew it. Hell, Hiro recited it almost every time he walked through the entrance of the school. It has been about half a year since he first moved to Death City, Nevada and all Hiro gained was the label of the DWMA's favorite errand boy.

He figured the reason he was so useless was because there was nothing special about him. His grades were painfully average; never one to get anything higher than a B+ or lower than a B-. His fighting skills were mediocre at best. He had really nothing to show when it came to speed or agility or strength or even will power. He didn't seem to own any talents that many meisters were capable of, such as, Soul Perception. And the biggest reason he dubbed himself as a walking failure was because he has never had a _decent_ weapon in his life.

Hiro didn't forget his time with holy sword Excalibur, no matter how hard he's tried. But as he listed his faults, he remembered that he has never had a _sane_ partner. The blonde errand boy searched the school high and low for someone with a soul that is compatible with his but always came up short. Every weapon he held in his hands has either burned him, electrocuted him, or just repelled him like two positively charged magnets. It almost made him want to take back Excalibur. Keyword being _almost_.

Excalibur was really Hiro's first weapon and partner. The little white whatever-it-was never really got under his skin like with the others who tried to wield him. Hiro could remember all 1000 provisions and how hard he worked to get them done. Being honest again, Hiro wanted to give up after reaching provision number 654 but after making it that far, he thought he might as well stick through the rest. After completing all one thousand provisions, Hiro marked it as one of the proudest moments in the fourteen year old life. He managed to do something that even the symmetry-obsessed Death the Kid or notorious narcissist Black Star couldn't put up with.

The blonde meister marched around the school with his head held high that week and did everything his mind could think of: walk into the girl's locker room, flip-up a few skirts, fought three of the strongest students in the school. He was popular and adored; wielding power and unbelievable strength. Unfortunately it all came to an end when Excalibur had that sneezing fit. Ten straight minutes of germs flying everywhere and Hiro couldn't take it anymore. Holy sword or not, Hiro found Excalibur disgusting and ended the partnership.

Hiro sighed. He wanted to fit in again and gain that confidence that he had when he had Excalibur. He didn't want all that fame and glory this time. All he wanted was everyone to know that he was more than an errand boy. That he could do something worthwhile. That he wasn't incompetent. And the only way he could do that was to have a partner.

As the blonde meister teen ran through what he could do, there was a commotion coming from the other side of the hallway. From out of nowhere, there was a boy dashing through the hall as if his life depended on it with the school's zombie Sid pursing him with a determined look on his cold blue face. Despite having a cold dead man chasing him, the teen didn't seem scared or worried. In fact, he had a satisfied smile on his face. Everyone in the hallway quickly stepped out of the way and watched the two run.

The running teen had short raven hair with bangs that hid his eyes from everyone that looked at him. He was about the same height as Soul but his skin was a chocolate-brown color. He wore an opened red and black plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows. Underneath it was a black sleeveless muscle tee. He also had a pair of dark blue jeans with a silver chain hanging on the right side and white running sneakers. On his back was an orange backpack that he held by one strap, stained with many different colored spray paints.

He ran, looking back at the rushing zombie with a smile, not paying attention to what or who was in front of him. Hiro, too tired to really focus on anything else, continued walking along. And like that, the two boys crashed into one another; sandwiches and soda cans scattered everywhere.

Both teens groaned as they got rolled on the floor and slowly got up.

"Sorry. Sorry," Hiro apologized.

The mysterious teen swiftly grabbed for his backpack and checked its content. He gave a sigh of relief, at ease about whatever was in his bag and then turned to the blonde teen. Instead of accepting or rejecting the apology, the teen who clashed with the pathetic meister laughed uncontrollably.

Confused, Hiro turned over and took a good look at the student lying on the ground. "Umm...are you okay?"

The student zipped his bag shut. "Yeah! I thought I almost broke something! My mom would have been so pissed!" He laughed again until he felt a hand on his shoulder. The teen looked up, his bangs still covering his eyes, at the blue zombie that spent his day chasing him through the school.

"You're coming with me," Sid commanded. The chocolate skinned teen stood with one arm through the strap of his backpack. Sid then looked down and noticed that Hiro on the floor. "Hiro are you alright? I'm gonna guess that Victor here bumped into you."

Hiro slowly got up, rubbing his eyes and looking up at the blue zombie. "Don't worry Sid. I'll be—" His words trailed off into a loud yawn. He stretched his arms and legs as if he just got out of bed.

"Hiro, have you been sleeping well?" Sid asked, concerned of the well-being of the student.

The errand boy shook his head as he began picking up the disorganized sandwiches and soda and putting them in the brown paper bag. "Not really. I've had some nightmares lately and I haven't been sleeping too well." After he filled the bag, he picked it up and carried it. "But I'll be fine. I'm gonna go—"

"Wait right there!" Sid said in his most stern voice. With one hand on the hidden eyed troublemaker, Sid took the brown bag filled with lunches from Hiro's hands. "I can't have my students walking around half awake like zombies, even if I am one myself. That's not the kind of man I was. How about I take care of this and you head over to Nurse Nygus office. Take a few minutes off and maybe you'll feel better."

Hiro gave a weak smile and nodded his head. A nap did sound good. Maybe sleeping somewhere else would take his mind off his worries.

Sid nodded in agreement and took the lunches and the teen named Victor away.

**~Dispensary~**

Nygus saw the tired student walk into her office and asked what had ailed him. Hiro explained to her how Sid recommended that he get some sleep and how he looked so sleep deprived, she didn't argue with the zombie's judgment. The mummified nurse helped him to a bed and told him that she would wake him in thirty minutes so he wouldn't be horribly late for class.

After kicking off his shoes and hopping on the bed, Hiro immediately fell asleep.

_Minutes later, Hiro woke up refreshed and ready for classes. He hopped out of bed and saw the clock on the wall. He still had a good five minutes before he had to go to class. Before he walked out of that office, the nurse called his attention._

_"So are you feeling better now?" she asked, a visible smile shown through her bandaged clad mouth._

_Hiro smiled and nodded. "Yeah! Maybe I just need a new mattress or something. I never slept this great back at home."_

_"That's good to here! So what class do you have now?"_

_"Oh I have a–" Hiro stopped, a sharp pain in his chest. His breathing began harsh and sweat began pouring down his face._

_"Hiro?" Nygus asked, concerned. "Sit down," she instructed as she got up and aided him towards the bed. "Are you having chest pains?!"_

_Hiro's hand clenched his chest, answering her question with a slight nod as he sat down. He's never felt anything like this before. It was like there was something inside him that was trying to break free. Nygus left him to fetch some medicine as Hiro curled into a ball on the bed. He was getting worse. He groaned in agony as the nurse poured a seemingly harmless pink liquid into a cup and handed it to him._

_"Here, drink this!" she instructed._

_Hiro grabbed the cup and drank the concoction. It didn't have a bad taste to it but whatever it was, it only made the problem worse. He lied on the bed, his hands holding back whatever hell that was brewing his body._

_"My God!" he gritted his teeth. "I'm gonna...I'm gonna..." Hiro couldn't finish his sentence._

_The center of his chest ripped open with a long and thin steel blade coming out of it._

_He quickly sat up; shocking the nurse on how the thin blade came out of his body like it was hiding inside him the entire time. It didn't stop there. The sword retreated into Hiro's body and punctured another hole in the boy's chest, this time lower and more towards the right. Each time the sword freed itself, it unleashed a waterfall of blood from the wound and then retreated back into his body to replicated this process._

_Nygus watched in horror, unaware of what to do. She has seen war scars and dead comrades several times but she was something she has never seen before in her life. "Hiro!"_

_The blonde teen could hear her over his scared screams of terror._

_"Hiro!"_

"Hiro!"

He woke up, covered in sweat with the bandaged clad weapon standing over him, trying to calm him down. His breathing was short once again and his hands clung to his sheets for dear life. Hiro checked his body and found no openings made by that infernal sword that haunted him.

He couldn't understand it. Why were these dreams repeating themselves? Why was it about a sword? Why did they start happening after he abandoned Excalibur?

And more importantly, why was it that the sword seemed so foreign and yet so familiar?

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**Can you see where I'm going with this? If Hiro is such a bad meister, maybe it's because he's not supposed to be a meister...**

**Leave a review if I should keep going with this...**


	2. Guilty Conscious

Look! Another chapter! More Hiro problems! Enjoy it!

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**Chapter 2:**

**Break Time in the Nurse's Office! **

**A Weapon of a Guilty Conscious?**

Nurse Nygus insisted that the blonde meister stay in bed. Hiro, being one that could never say no, followed her instructions and stayed in the nurse's office, lying down on the white sheets. After giving Hiro a glass of water, she sat down on a chair beside the bed and waited for him to finish the cup.

"So how long have you been having these nightmares?" Nygus asked, taking his empty cup and putting it on the desk next to her.

"For about three days now," Hiro answered quietly, "And I haven't been getting much sleep because of them."

"Care to tell me what they're about?"

Hiro sat up and turned to the nurse. "Um...sure. They usually start the same way, me picking up someone's lunch or talking with a couple of friends but then...I get these chest pains."

Nygus tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Chest pains?"

"Yeah, it's like a terrible sharp feeling in my chest. And then, after I can't take the pain anymore..." Hiro trailed off, gesturing the space in front of his chest, "...this sword just bursts through my chest! And it doesn't just end there, this sword just pops outta me and then goes back in and then continues making more holes in me until I wake up!" The sped up the last part as he spoke, leaving him a little winded.

"And there's no one holding the sword?" she asked, trying to get a better picture of these nightmares.

Hiro shook his head. "No. There's never anyone doing this to me! It's...it's like it was inside my body and then needed to escape so it ripping me open to do it!"

She sat back and sighed. Nygus had a vast knowledge of medical procedures when it came to physical pains but psychological ones were a completely different story. She couldn't prescribe anything to the young meister for bad dreams but if those reoccurring nightmares gave him such panic attacks in his sleep like this on a nightly basis, they could do some serious damage to him, physically and mentally.

Then something came to her. "Hiro, weren't you the student that befriended and wielded the holy sword Excalibur a few days ago?" Nygus remembered having a few students walk in last week that had fought and lost to the holy sword.

Hiro nodded his head. "Yeah, these nightmares started after I returned him. I just had to get rid of him. He was just...gross." He finished his sentence while making the notorious "Excalibur is annoying" face.

"Then maybe you're having these nightmares because you're feeling a bit guilty for what you did last week. I don't have to tell you the amount of people who ended up in that bed that you're sitting on because of you and that sword." The damages weren't as bad as what she expected from a legendary sword with indescribable power; some mild burns here, a few scars there. Maybe these nightmares were coming from his subconscious guilt.

Hiro put the bandaged nurse's theory under consideration. It did sound plausible. There were still a few major people that he didn't apologize to yet. Some people he hasn't seen yet and others that he was just too afraid to close to. Even though no one that he fought suffered anything serious he did leave some people in bad shape. He only wanted to teach everyone that picked on him a lesson. He didn't want anyone really hurt.

But there was an eerie feeling that he couldn't shake that made him feel like there was more to these nightmares than guilt. The sword that pierced through his flesh resembled nothing like Excalibur. He could say without a shadow of a doubt that he has never seen that sword in his life but there was something—a small voice in the back of his head or a gut feeling (no pun intended)—that screamed at him, saying that he was connected to the steel weapon.

He shook his head, rejecting the latter idea. How could he know a weapon he's never seen before? "Maybe you're right. Maybe I still do feel guilty about the whole thing...but right now I just need to lie down for a while." He looked up at the clock hanging on the wall and then turned back to Nygus. "Is it alright if I skip my classes and stay here for the rest of the day? I don't think I have the energy to go through classes right now."

Nygus looked at the tired meister and nodded, granting his request. She got up from her chair and returned to her work while Hiro threw his head back down on the pillow and stared at the white ceiling.

The image of that sword still plagued his mind. Despite the imaginary but seemingly real pain it brought him, he wondered if it was a sign that his future partner and weapon would be a sword. He worked well with Excalibur, even if it was for a short time. Who knows? Maybe he was suited to be a sword meister.

He made a mental note to seek other students that were swords.

...

_A few hours later, Hiro decided to rid of all his guilt by apologizing to the remaining people on his list that he has hurt or offended._

_His first targets were Black Star, Kilik Lung, and Death the Kid for the three-on-one fight that led to the academy's three best fighters being instantaneously roasted like marshmallows. The latter two accepted the apology nonchalantly while the former laughed manically then used him as a practice dummy for painful death holds. Hiro protested to having his spine nearly snapped in two but the blue haired assassin said it was his way of accepting the apology._

_Later, Hiro found the girls that he peeped on in the locker room and gave them his request for forgiveness. They accepted the apology only after they got all the anger out their system by giving Hiro a good ol' fashion all-girl group ass-kicking. No bones were broken and he suffered minor bruises but the kicks to a certain vulnerable area on his body reduced the probability of the blonde meister ever having children._

_After a few more beat downs and threats, all Hiro had to do was apologize to two more students and his conscious should be set free. He just hoped that they were more understanding and merciful than the others._

_"...so please, would you ever forgive me?" Hiro finished his long speech of how he found the error of his ways and how he will never do that again. After it all, he bowed his head in shame and closed his eyes, expecting the worst._

_The female meister-weapon pair looked at each other and then down at Hiro. He had a few visible scars and bruises on him so the duo could tell he went through a lot and whatever they did wouldn't have been different from what he suffered through._

_Kim sighed and said, "Fine. I'm in a good mood today but don't make a habit of it!"_

_Jacqueline, mirroring her meister's pity, had her hands at her hips and nodded in agreement. "Or next time we won't be so merciful. I'll light you ass on fire, got it?"_

_Hiro bowed to them again, thanking them for their mercy and forgiveness. He was overwhelmed that they didn't use his body as a punching bag. But as his body filled with joy and hope, a pain filled him as well: a sharp chest pain followed by heavy breathing and a racing heart._

_He fell down on his knees, clutching the chest at the source of the pain. "Hiro, are you okay?" Kim asked, very concerned. She kneeled and rested her hand on his shoulder. Hiro felt the hand on him so he pushed away the pink haired meister as a warning._

_"What the hell is wrong with you Hiro?" Hiro heard Jacqueline say with a less than compassionate tone. She helped Kim back up to her feet and the two of them watched the blonde teen collapse, lying on the ground and holding his chest._

_He groaned in agony, knowing what was coming next but fought it. However, the pain got worse and worse until he felt that his body couldn't take it anymore and relinquished its strength in stopping the inevitable._

_"NO!" he wailed. He watched in horror as a long and thin steel blade tore open his chest and exposed itself in front of Kim and Jacqueline. This horrific sight scared the girls, causing them to run in terror._

_Hiro watched as the blade couldn't free itself completely so it retreated inside the blonde's body and reappeared, stabbing through his flesh once more. Blood slowly pooled around his body as more holes were made by the sword in its attempt to escape. Hiro tried to stop this phenomenon but he couldn't muster any strength to do so. He was alone, scared, unsure of what he did to deserve this level of pain._

_"Hiro!"_

_"Hiro!"_

"Hiro!"

Hiro gasped loudly, sitting from the bed again and finding Nygus standing above him. When she heard his squirming and shouting from the other side of the room, she ran to his side to free him from his sleeping torment. She gave him a glass of drinking water and stayed by his side until his heart rate returned to normal.

The drowsy sun was slowly setting, indicating that the school day was over. The bandaged nurse told him that he could stay the night but he declined the offer. Somehow he didn't think that staying over in the nurse's office would make him sleep any better. If he was going to have night terrors, he'd rather have them in the comfort of his apartment than an empty and dark school that was only a few carved pumpkins away from looking like a Halloween haunted mansion.

He left the office and walked down the hallways, colored yellow from the sun. Tomorrow, Hiro is going to apologize to everyone, no matter how much he gets beaten up. If there was a chance in him finally getting a single night's rest, getting his ass kicked several times in one day was completely worth it.

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**Reviews, following, or favorite-ing helps me continue this story! But no pressure! Mwahahaha!**


	3. First Day of School

You actually came back? To read another chapter of this story? Like, seriously?

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**Chapter 3: **

**Victor's First Day at the DWMA! **

**Bring on the Chaos?**

_Earlier that day..._

Victor was excited. After a long flight and a tiresome cab ride that traversed the deserts of Nevada, Victor Elliot Paladin made it to Death City. The chocolate skinned teen paid the cab driver, hopped out the vehicle with his dark green suitcase and spray paint stained orange backpack, and looked out into the distance. Even from the outskirts of the city, he didn't need binoculars to clearly see the city's centerpiece: the Demon Weapon Meister Academy.

As of today, Victor was a student of the DWMA.

"This place is so freakin' awesome!" he shouted eagerly. He turned to the cab driver. "Isn't this place just awesome or what?!"

The driver didn't response. The man wordlessly shifted the car gear back into drive and drove back into the desert; the back wheels sending a cloud of dust into the teen's face.

Victor coughed and fanned the dust away until he was able to see again. "Well you didn't have to be so _rude_!" he shouted angrily, waving an angry fist in the air. Victor huffed but quickly regained his composure. He wasn't going to let that ruin his day.

He turned back around and looked at his new school from where he stood. "D-W-M-A," he quietly said to himself, slowly enunciating each letter of the acronym as he stared at the academy. Victor knew that the school was big from the brochures but he didn't think it would be the size of a castle. Before coming to Death City, he attended a prestige prep school in England so he wasn't used to seeing a building with such a...a...let's go with _unique_...design. The giant burning candles on the sides and the skull designs were a good laugh all on their own too.

However, its extreme appearance was the very reason that Victor couldn't stop grinning like a Cheshire cat. If there's one thing that he hated more than anything else in the world, it was anything that was boring. Just looking at the school, the new kid knew that he will never find himself in a dull moment.

With that, he picked up his suitcase with one hand, tightly held the strap of his backpack tighter with the other hand, took a running stance, and then bolted down the road, leaving a trail of dust flying behind him.

"Alright DWMA! Ready or not, here I come!"

...

Someone should have told him about the stairs that led up to the DWMA; they were like a journey all on their own. There were hundreds of them, each flight looking exactly like the one before it. All that adrenaline he had pulsing through his veins depleted after the first three hundreds steps.

"Oh My Death," he panted. When he made it to the top step, he dropped his suitcase and fell on his knees. His lungs were on fire, desperately filling itself with air. "Who in the bloody hell put all those stairs there?!" he wheezed angrily to no one in particular while weakly pointed to the stairs behind him. He then fully collapsed, lying on the heated concrete ground, not bothering to waste a single ounce of energy.

His little break didn't last for more than a few minutes before someone came up to him.

"Excuse me but are you okay?" Victor heard a feminine voice. He was wondering why someone wanted to disturb him but then he remembered that people usually assume the worst when they see a body lying face down on the ground. He reluctantly flipped over onto his back and standing there, by his head, was a tall young woman with her black hair tied into a long ponytail.

She seemed confused, unsure of what to make of the new student since his hair was in the way of his eyes. "Would you like some help?" she asked, concern coating her words.

"No, I'm quite alright!" Victor replied, getting back up on his own two feet. He looked at her and noticed that she wasn't gasping for air like he was. "Umm...sorry I got tired from running up all those stairs."

She smiled. "Oh. I remember my first day. There not so bad when you get used to them."

Victor's groaned. "Get used to them? I thought this school had some kind of elevator or ski lift gondola I didn't know about."

She shook her head. "Nope, but that would be fun." She laughed. "I'm guessing that you're new here. My name is Tsubaki."

She took out her hand for a handshake. "And I'm Vic—" Just before they shook, there was a loud sound that startled the both of them.

"YAAAAHHHHOOOOOOOO!" There was a flash of blue that sped up the stairs and then shot up into the sky. Victor couldn't catch what it was until the unidentified object fell back down to earth.

It was a kid; a kid with spiky blue hair and the biggest, cockiest grin that Victor has ever seen on a person. When the speedster landed, he stood tall and pointed his index finger up at the sky.

"I'm the invincible Black Star! Worship my awesome stance! HA HA HA!"

Victor seen people like him before, right before they were sent off the loony bin. "Umm..." The chocolate skinned teen shook his head; he was at a loss for words. Even Tsubaki let out a nervous laugh to fill the awkward silence.

Black Star turned around and saw Victor and Tsubaki standing there, stunned. "So you were impressed by my godly entrance," he said with a grin plastered on his face.

"Yeah, way to go Black Star," Tsubaki encouraged with her thumbs up.

Victor was still waiting for the words to come to him. "Umm...what..."

Black Star dropped his pose and gave Victor a questioning look. "I've never seen you before. You new around here or something, kid?"

Victor snapped back. "Umm...yeah. I'm Victor. It's my first day here."

"Well Victor, just stay close to the great Black Star 'cause I'm Number One! YAHOO!"

Black Star couldn't see it but Victor raised an eyebrow in confusion. "No thanks," he said politely as he backed away with his hands up. "I promised my mom that I wouldn't hang out with people that were a bad influence so..." He trailed off, walking over to his luggage.

"So what, you think you're better than me, new kid?" Black Star asked in a serious manner and his arms crossed over his chest.

"What? No, I'm just sayin' that—" Victor was cut off again. This time Black Star balled his right hand into a fist and sent it flying at the new student. Victor heard it coming his way and managed to spin around and block the attack with his crossed arms but the strength of the assassin's right hook still sent him flying.

"See, I told you that I was better!" Black Star said, regaining his cocky smile.

Victor turned over on the ground, looking at Black Star. He didn't know about the blue haired assassin's habit of picking fights with anyone that crosses his path. Victor also didn't mind being put into one. This was a new school with new people to know so he relished the idea of getting to know one of them through a good knuckle busting fight. If this was the chaos that came with the DWMA, he welcomed it with open arms.

He slowly got up from the ground, laughing. "Hey, Black Star? Tell me," he said as he got up on his own to feet, "are there more crazy people like you in this school?"

"What? I'm not crazy. There are a couple of wackos in the school but none of them are stronger than me!"

Victor smiled like a child who got what they wanted for Christmas. Yep, there will never be a dull moment here. "Well, what are we waiting for? Bring on the chaos!" He took a fighting pose, both his legs taking a strong stance while his hands clenched tightly into two dense fists.

Black Star chuckled. "Tsubaki, get back and watch this! I'm gonna show this punk who's number one around here!" Tsubaki did as she was told to do and moved away from the battle arena.

The assassin cracked his knuckles and then took a stance too. He had a small smirk similar to his opponent's, a smirk of anticipation and excitement.

"I'm warning you, I'm not gonna pull any punches! I'm the invincible Black Star! Strongest meister there is and soon to be master of the Uncanny Sword!"

"I didn't understand the last part but...right back at cha!"

Black Star made the first move, charging in and unleashing a fury of punches. Victor was ready for them this time, blocking the first few attack he dealt a punch of his own. There was an opening for the assassin's face through the center of the rampaging fists and Victor didn't let the opportunity pass him by.

"What? Is that it? I though you were number one?"

The assassin flew back with a bruised cheek, nothing that the unbeatable Black Star couldn't take. "Well...try this!" As soon as his foot touched the ground, he pounced up into the air and delivered mid-air kick for Victor's side. Black Star managed to get his target this time. Victor didn't go off flying like before but this time he skidded a few feet back. "How'dja like that?!"

"Don't count yourself the winner just...yet!" Victor's smirk never went away but he shuddered at the end. He didn't want to admit it but this kid was tough. Victor contemplated whether he should follow Black Star and not pull his punches by showing off his own _true_ potential but he had some doubts.

Unlike the newbie, Black Star didn't have a single thought in his head. He crotched down and then dashed towards Victor at amazing speeds. Victor snapped out of his thoughts when he saw the streak of blue coming at him and took a stance. He will use that power when it's a necessity. But for now, he needed to stay focused.

Black Star went for a swept kick and he executed it wonderfully. Victor was caught off guard and fell onto his back, cringing at the feeling of his spine hitting the ground. The ninja assassin was never one to just do one move so he followed it by flipping into the air and slamming down his fist into his opponent's chest. The impact of the attack sunk Victor deeper into the ground, leaving the chocolate skinned teen in a shallow crater.

He broke into a little sweat. Tsubaki, standing at the steps of the school, witnessed the last attack and thought it was a real doozy. _In Black Star's defense, he did warn Victor that he didn't pull any of his punches._ It was that kind of thinking that showed how she always stood by her partner, no matter what he did. She sighed and turned to fetch the school nurse so she could bandage yet another one of Black Star's challengers.

"I told you I'm the number one!" he exclaimed proudly. "HA HA HA!"

"Who said we were done?" The comment stopped Tsubaki in her tracks. She spun around, as did Black Star, to the crater as that was were the voice came from.

"What the—" That was all the blue haired assassin could let out as he watched Victor stand up and dust himself off. The assassin duo couldn't believe how the new kid was standing after being struck with enough force that left a permanent dip in the ground, and by how casually he stood.

"Why the hell aren't you down for the count?" Black Star demanded.

Victor wasn't completely immune to the attack. He was panting and wiping the droplets of sweat that clung to his forehead. But a final blow didn't quite do the trick. "You almost won," he finally answered, "but then I remembered you saying something about never holding back. I was holding back because I thought I would have gone a little overboard. But now I see that you're tougher than what I expected. So if you're not gonna hold back, well neither am I!"

Black Star looked at the fighter in front of him. He walked out of the crater and took a fighting stance, ready and willing for another round. The smile on Victor's semi-covered face made it clear that he found some kind of enjoyment out of this. There was something mysterious going on and Black Star didn't know what was going on.

The assassin smirked. This just went from a morning workout to an actually fight between two strong-willed fighters.

"I'm not gonna hold back!" the blue haired fighter said with a grin plastered on his face.

The chocolate skinned teen chuckled. "Well...neither am I! This is going to get chaotic!"

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**Leave a review of what you think of Victor so far and get an imaginary cookie in return.**

**He's a half-African half-British teen with a love of chaos and hatred of anything boring and stairs. Does he have what it takes to make it in the DWMA?**


	4. Knights Vs Assassins

Hiro got two chapters and now Victor got two chapters! Perfect Symmetry!

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**Chapter 4: **

**Victor Unleashes His Strength! **

**An Epic Battle Between Knights and Assassins?**

Victor kicked off the second round, rushing towards Black Star with a swift right jab. Black Star blocked the jab with his forearm then countered with a strong punch of his own. Victor saw the fist coming towards him so he used his free hand and caught it in his palm, stopping it with all his might. While the assassin pushed for his strike to land, the newest student to the DWMA drove forward his own clenched fist.

They found themselves in a stalemate; neither one giving the other an inch.

"It looks," Victor groaned, smirking as he struggled to stop his opponent from punching his lights out in one swing, "like we've reached an impasse."

"I don't know what that means," Black Star responded in a similar groan, "but I'm still going to kick you butt!"

The assassin leapt back, breaking the deadlock. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Black Star rushed at Victor and went for a vicious uppercut. The hit landed; Victor's neck stretched as far back as humanly possible while Black Star's knuckles dug deeper into his chin. Black Star then used his other hand and followed his uppercut with a direct blow to Victor's chest.

Victor flew a few feet. When he hit the ground, he rolled backwards a couple of times until he stopped. At first, he thought that Black Star was just blowing smoke when he said that he was number one. But that last attack really drove it home. Victor took a moment and checked his jaw to see if he might have to start eating through a straw. When he deemed everything was still functional and in one piece, he felt relieved.

"That's right! That's the power of the great and mighty Black Star! YAHOO!" Victor didn't need to look up to know that Black Star was doing another victory pose. He could practically _hear_ it.

_Why should Black Star have all the fun?_ With that in mind, Victor flipped himself off the ground and landed on his own two feet, ready for more. If he was going to make it through this fight without suffering a major concussion, he needed to start putting some effort on his part.

"Okay! Let's take it up a notch!" the newbie exclaimed.

Victor extended his right arm out with his right hand open. Black Star and Tsubaki stared at him, raising their eyebrows, puzzled by what he was doing. Unbeknownst to the assassin duo, the British-African teen's soul began to swell up and expand. Suddenly, his extended arm started to glow and slowly changed its shape.

"What are you doing?" Black Star asked. The question didn't seem to come out as afraid or nervous; it was more like general curiosity.

"Showing you why they called me the Rebellious Knight back in my old prep school," Victor proclaimed as he swung his glowing arm. After those words escaped him, the light vanished and revealed his forearm's new form. It was armor; custom-fitted, shining silver armor that enveloped everything from the tips of his fingers down to his elbow.

Tsubaki didn't know what to make of the iron clad arm while Black Star placed his hands by his sides and looked at the armor as if it was mildly surprising.

Victor curled and uncurled his armored fingers, getting a feel of it while listening to the clanging of metal. For a brief moment, a montage of memories flooded in his mind about his armor. But as quickly as they entered his head, he shook them out. This wasn't the time to reflect on the past. Now was his time to move on and look forward towards the future, look forward to his new school, and more importantly look forward to beating Black Star into a pulp.

"Knight, smight! Don't go thinking that you can go and just take the spotlight away from me. So are you gonna glow some more or are we gonna fight?" Black Star thought that Victor's little light show was a ploy to get all the attention, even though it was only the three of them that were standing in front of the school. If there was one thing he hated, it was someone that shows off...more than him.

Victor smirked. "Fight!" He prolonged using his real strength for long enough. He raised his right fist as high as he could and then slammed it down into the ground. The ground below him cracked and everything began to shake, taking Tsubaki by surprise. The weapon had to hold the wall next to her so she wouldn't fall. Black Star, however, stood completely still, noting the power from the demonstration and relishing the feel of a real challenge.

"Good!" Once the shaking had stopped, Black Star rushed over to Victor and jumped into the air. The armored teen stood his ground, not once considering dodging the attack. The assassin came crashing down for another punch but the knight stopped the attack with only his metal clad hand.

"What the—" Black Star muttered before Victor slammed his body into the ground. The hole left in the ground wasn't as big as the one Victor's body made but the Rebellious Knight had time to fix that problem.

"I can't explain why or how I'm able to this," Victor admitted as he lifted the motionless assassin by his arm, "but I can create this awesome armor anywhere on my body and it increases my strength ten fold!" He then demonstrated his strength by throwing Black Star's body with such force that he bounced and skidded across the ground when he landed.

"I'm not finished yet!" Victor ran down the battlefield and then jumped into the air, his metal right hand balled into a fist and cocked back; his target dead in his sight. **"_Valor's Right!_"** He hammered his fist down and the fierce blow created an explosion.

"Black Star," Tsubaki whispered under her breath. Due to the smoke, she couldn't see what happened but she assumed the worst. She has watched her meister fight other students before but with the exception of Kidd, she has never seen anyone in the DWMA hold their own against him. Victor's armor wasn't something to take lightly.

When the smoke started to clear, she was able to make out Victor crouching with his metallic hand impaled into the ground.

Black Star was gone.

Tsubaki sighed happily. Victor didn't.

His face reflected the surprise that he felt when he figured out that the assassin must have moved at the last second, narrowly evading his attack. Victor had to hand it to Black Star; even though his shining elbow gauntlet gave each of his punches such incredible power, the little assassin was still faster.

Soon the mixture of surprise and admiration turned to panic when Victor noted that he didn't know where Black Star was and the front of the academy was still covered with a light blanket of smoke. This is the ideal situation for any good assassin. Victor stood his ground; his hand ready to strike as soon as he catches a glimpse of his opponent's blue hair.

"Where are you?" he called out, trying to lore him out.

"HA HAAAAAA!" Black Star swiftly leapt out of the smoke with his leg out for a flying kick. Victor, thankful that his opponent gave him a little heads up, blocked the incoming foot with metal arm. No matter how many times Tsubaki warned him, Black Star could never manage to pull off one sneak attack without first exposing himself.

"You're quick," Victor complimented with the force Black Star's foot still pushing him.

"That's nothing!" Black Star replied with a cocky smirk. He then used Victor's forearm as a jumping board and bounced off in a back flip.

The smoke finally faded away, revealing everything that was once hidden to Tsubaki and the laughing sun. It was just Black Star and Victor standing on opposite sides of the destroyed battlefield; both challengers a little weary but unwilling to surrender.

Black Star stuck out his right hand and began resonating with his own soul; forming little yellow sparks began dancing around his fingers. Victor raised a suspicious eyebrow from behind his lengthy bangs. He didn't know what Black Star was about to do but from what he could guess, it wasn't good.

"Get ready for this punk!" Black Star shouted, charging at his foe with extreme fury. He didn't say it aloud but the look on his face made it clear that he was going to end it with this one attack.

Victor had to admit that he was still up for another sparring round, or two, but the thought of finishing this fight through some climatic clash between them, the possibility of it all ending with a ground shaking tremor or an explosion more epic than any Fourth of July firework could bring, just sounded so..._awesome_!

"Bring it!" Victor called out, rushing straight at Black Star with his metallic arm ready to end it all there and then.

**_"Soul Menace!"_**

**_"Valor's Right!"_**

"What do you think you two are doing?!"

The third voice snapped the two combatants out of their intense trance to destroy one another and forced them to face where the voice came from. Victor didn't know what or who he was looking at but luckily, Black Star said his name. "Sid?"

The zombie of the DWMA stood at the entrance with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Sid felt the shaking of their battle from inside the academy and already knew that the blue haired assassin was somehow involved. To his surprise, he found Black Star still fighting. No matter how fast he ran or how close he was to the school's entrance, Sid would always arrive after Black Star rendered the unfortunate student a defeated, lifeless body.

"Look out!" Tsubaki shouted from behind Sid. Black Star and Victor forgot that they were still charging at each other. Before they could turn their heads or stop their feet, they bashed their heads into each other.

As they rolled on the floor, covering the bumps on their foreheads and groaning a pain, Black Star's "Soul Menace" dispelled while Victor's metallic arm glowed then reverted back into his chocolate skinned arm.

"I heard all the commotion," Sid said as he walked towards them, avoiding the craters, "and my gut just told me that you were involved Black Star."

Both teens slowly sat up. Black Star knew what was coming so he didn't bother saying anything. This was a weekly routine for him: first, Sid finds out that he was beating someone up; next, Sid lectures him about how picking fights with students is wrong; finally, Sid gives him some boring chore to do around the DWMA as punishment but Black Star would neglect it and Tsubaki would do end up doing the chore it for him.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Victor, however, was out of the loop. He didn't know about what Black Star's record of starting fights with anyone with two good arms and legs. He didn't understand who or what Sid was or what he was going to do. All Victor knew for sure was that today is supposed to be his first day and he started it off by fighting _and_ destroying school property. He came from a prestigious prep school but it was closer to normal than the DWMA could ever be—and at a normal school, these actions were tickets to immediate expulsion.

"Oh...bloody...hell," he whispered, his British accent escaping him.

Sid looked at Black Star and was about to start his usual routine with the blue haired assassin but the sight of the teen that he's never seen before distracted him. If this was a new student, he was going to give him a tour of the school and introduce himself. Sid was always helped new students; that was the kind of man he was.

"Hey," he said to get the new teen's attention, "I haven't seen you here before. Are you new?"

Victor didn't wait for Sid to make any comments on the conditions of the front grounds. The new student ran, grabbed his bag, and darted inside the school without a second thought. He wasn't going to get suspended today.

"Hey wait don't...run off." Sid trailed off with his hand out as he watched the teen with his hair covering his eyes run like his life depended on it. Sid sighed. His blue skin and intimidating face never really had an 'I'm friendly' vibe to them. _Being a zombie sucked sometimes._

"Did he happen to say what his name was?"

"He said his name was Victor," Tsubaki answered.

"Victor huh? Same name as the new kid we got a call about," he muttered to himself.

"Well, I gotta go catch him and convince him that I'm not here to hurt him." Before he went after Victor, Sid turned to face Black Star. "And don't this is over. After I'm done with this, we're going to have a serious talk. I was never the man who leaves things unfinished." And with that, Sid started the soon-to-be all day pursuit.

Victor Elliot Paladin went from one of the most challenging fights of his life to now being chased through the halls by a blue, determined zombie.

Yep, never a dull moment at the DWMA.

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**Leave a review and tell me what do you think about Victor! Or Black Star! Or Tsubaki! Or Sid!**

**I want Victor to have his own battle music, like Kidd and "_Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Have a Nice Dream_". But I can't find anything that matches Victor. ****I want something classy because he is a knight but hardcore because he's...well...Victor! Like a rock n' roll violinist!**

**That just sounded dumb! Whatever! -.-**


	5. Nighttime Dilemma

Five chapters down! A fudge-ton left to go!

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**Chapter 5:**

**Hiro's Nighttime Dilemma!**

**Will He Ever Find the Right Answer?****  
**

Hiro slid open the sliding door to his balcony and walked out into the late night air. Whenever school life got a little rough on the young meister, he would sometimes seek tranquility by sitting on one of his balcony chairs and gaze up at the night sky. There was something about the chilly nighttime breeze and the view of the grinning crescent moon that always soothe him. After taking a seat and getting comfortable, Hiro's mind began to wander.

There was no point denying it anymore, his nightmares were growing worse. Hiro had a high tolerance for almost everything—being treated like a meek errand boy, allowing Black Star to use his body as a practice dummy for his inescapable choke holds, dealing with the obnoxious personality of the infamous holy sword Excalibur—so in the beginning, he thought that he could grow to bear them. He was wrong. After what happened that night, Hiro deemed that they've escalated to where calling them agonizing was an understatement.

The sleepless teen tried every cliché in the book to get a decent night's sleep, everything from drinking glasses of warm milk to counting sheep, but each attempt only ended in inevitable failure. Somehow that malevolent sword would always find its way into his subconscious and torture him until he woke up, terrified and coated in sweat.

In the nights before, Hiro always managed to salvage a few hours of sleep before he found himself at the sword's mercy, but tonight was different. Tonight, his nightly terrors were relentless. Hiro couldn't close his eyes for more than a few minutes without eventually feeling the sharp pain of the blade desperately ripping his body open like one of Dr. Stein's dissection lessons. He lost count of how many times he woke up in a panic, urgently searching his body for flesh wounds. And when he concluded that his porcelain skin was free from any visible scars, he would try to go back to bed and the cycle would continue.

Hiro wasn't an idiot. He may be an incompetent but he wasn't a fool. He knew that nightmares couldn't leave actual physically marks on his person but those nightmares weren't normal. There was no way someone could feel such excruciating pain while they're sleeping. There had to be a reason for them. Something had to have caused them but Hiro only drew blanks on what it could be.

"I feel like I'm going mad," he whispered as he raked his fingers through his blonde locks. He slumped over his chair but then stopped when he felt like he heard that expression before. _Going mad..._ It took a moment but he figured out where he heard it.

Ever since the Christmas Eve party, there have been rumors floating around the academy about black blood and madness. Hiro never really gave them much thought because those topics usually revolved around the "important people" of the DWMA: Lord Death, the teachers, and the stronger meisters-weapon teams in his class.

But now that he brought up the matter, was it possible that he was somehow involved? Was Hiro falling into madness?

"No." The answer came out without any hesitation or uncertainty.

Hiro didn't have a single shred of evidence to prove that he wasn't affected by some unknown madness wavelength but he had a strong feeling that shouted at him, telling him he was looking at this predicament the wrong way again. It was the same feeling the blonde teen felt when Nurse Nygus presumed that his nightly terrors were the result of subconscious guilt. Hiro wanted to give her theory, as well as the theory of succumbing insanity, some serious thought before discarding them but for some reason, he immediately _knew_ that they were both wrong.

He groaned. Hiro wasn't getting anywhere like this. Everything seemed wrong but nothing appeared to be right.

"I need to get some sleep," Hiro yawned as he rubbed his half-lidded eyes. He had school tomorrow and if he wanted to make it to class on time, he needed to somehow fight through tonight and get some sleep.

Despite not coming up with any solutions, Hiro was slightly content in knowing that he wasn't suffering from guilt or insanity. He got up, opened the sliding door, and entered into his apartment in hopes that he could get at least five minutes of undisturbed sleep.

**~The Next Day~**

It was another day at the Death Weapon Meister Academy and everyone was deciding on how to spend the upcoming weekend. Some of the meister-weapon pairs were standing by the Extracurricular Lesson Information Desk, settling on which mission to take for the upcoming days off. Others planned parties because they thought the time off was the perfect time to enjoy the company of friends. All in all, everyone was in a good mood...well, everyone except for one.

While everyone else was well rested and full of energy that fine morning, the blonde teen wearily trudged through the hallways, giving Sid a run for his money with his living dead look. Hiro didn't get a wink of sleep last night. His feet slid across the porcelain tiles because he was too tired to pick them up. His arms drooped down his sides and his back hunched because he didn't have the strength to stand up straight. There were dark circles under his eyes while his eyelids struggled—fought really—to stay up.

_KILL KONG KANG KONG! KILL KONG KANG KONG!_

That was the late bell for first period and Hiro groaned in frustration.

Why was he still so tired? He had an entire pot of coffee before leaving his apartment and bought the biggest cup of coffee from the Deathbucks Café on the way to school but they barely kept him up. Hiro normally doesn't drink coffee but he needed the caffeine to keep him going. Unfortunately, all that the caffeine did was keep Hiro in a strange state that he later dubbed as sleeping limbo—not fully asleep but not fully awake either.

It took a while but Hiro finally made it to Class Crescent Moon. He was ten minutes late but he guessed that he didn't miss much. Around this time, Dr. Stein usually has blood splattered all over his desk from the animal was dissecting, but today his desk was void of any dark crimson liquid. He took the lack of dead animal smell as a sign to hurry to his seat before he got in trouble with the stitched scientist.

Hiro went up three rows and made his way to his seat but there was someone else sitting there. The new student had chocolate-colored skin and raven black hair that hid his eyes from anyone that looked at him. Hiro couldn't put his finger on it but the new student seemed strangely familiar. He didn't bother trying to remember though, he was too tired for that. The blonde meister also didn't bother in having such a petty argument because there was an empty chair next to the new student. Hiro shrugged his shoulders and sat down, resting his chin on the surface in front of him.

"Okay class," Dr. Stein resumed, "now that issue has been taken care of, it is on to today's lesson. "And with the new student in the class, I've decided that today's lesson will be a little different that usual." An eerie smile crept on the mad scientist face so everyone feared the worst.

_The teacher looked up at the class of students until he found who he was looking for. "Hiro, would you mind coming to the front of the room," Dr. Stein asked in a serious manner._

"_Huh?"_

"_I asked if would mind coming to the front of the room. I'm going to need you help for the experiment I am about to conduct."_

_The blonde meister was confused about this situation; he never got called up to the front of the room before. Usually it was Maka or Black Star that helped with the stitched man's demonstrations. Hiro wasn't sure what his professor wanted with him but he wasn't someone who said no very often so he got up and made his way to the front of the classroom, standing besides Dr. Stein's desk._

_Dr. Stein nodded and turned to his class once more. "Today class, we will be discussing the repercussions of a suppressed soul."_

_Hiro looked at the man with the giant bolt embedded in his head in confusion. What did he mean by 'suppressed soul'?_

_The mad scientist continued. "Not many people know this but Hiro here has an interesting soul wavelength. During the time he's spent at the DWMA, he has yet found a weapon that is compatible with him. Now does anyone know why?"_

_The new student raised his hand. "Is it because he sucks?" The entire class broke out into a giant fit of laughter and Hiro felt the blood rush to his face._

_Despite the joke, Dr. Stein remained serious and waited for the laughter to die down. "No, that's not it. The problem is that he holds back and refuses to unleash his true potential."_

"_Hold back? True Potential?" Despite what anyone thinks, Hiro never held back when he searched for a weapon. He would always gave it his all but it only made him feel worse about himself when he failed to make a connection with anyone. So how—and in some case, why—was he holding back?_

_The doctor twisted the bolt on his head, three times to the right. Each twist was painfully slow as Hiro could hear in great detail the slow clicking sound of whatever it was in Stein's head that made those noises. The moment he reached the third twist and stopped, something in the stitched doctor snap. The last click __sound echoed in the classroom and a maddening grin exploded on Stein's face. "I'll be better if I just SHOW YOU!"_

_Before Hiro had time to react, Stein had a grip of the blonde meister's shirt and threw the teen onto the table harshly. _

_Hiro winced as he reached for the back of his head, covering and lightly patting the bruise the thrash throw created. _"_What are you doing!?" cried Hiro, hissing from his head hitting the surface of the desk._

"_Showing you the power that you've hidden all this time!" Dr. Stein laughed maniacally as he dashed to his desk drawer and pulled out a few scalpels._

"_What!?" Hiro tried to get up but somehow his wrists were restrained by rope. He didn't remember the ropes at all but his focus was less on how they got there and more on how to get them off. __He tried pulling and jerking his hands free but he couldn't. "You're going to dissect me?" he asked, his words dripping with heart-pounding fear._

_The madman shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't care. He really didn't. __"Dissect! Unleash! It doesn't make much of a difference!" He held the scalpel over the exposed flesh that Hiro never manage to cover up. "__You're looking for a weapon compatible with your soul wavelength but you've never figured out that it has been inside you the entire time!__"_

_Hiro's mind barely registered those words as he felt the cold small blade pierce his abdomen until it started drawing some blood. Now with the scalpel embedded in his chest, Stein slowly slid the tiny blade up to teen's body, leaving a line of blood that slowly slid down and spread across the desk and floor. The pain of the scalpel stung at first but it grew worse. Hiro started to feel severe chest pains._

_Hiro struggled to free himself but he couldn't free himself. "I can sense it," Dr. Stein said with a maddening grin. "The power you had within you was inactive until now!"_

"_No!" Hiro cried out, desperately trying to free himself. He pulled and tugged on the ropes at his wrists but he just couldn't find the strength to break himself free. He was at the mad scientist's mercy. _

_The blonde meister, as a last resort, turned to his fellow classmates with panic in his eyes and his body arching from the table to break free. "HELP ME!" he shouted in agony. All the students stared wordlessly, not once making the effort to interfere with the experiment._

_After pointless fighting and kicking, for the entire class to see, the sword ripped through his chest and made itself know. _"_Interesting," Dr. Stein said, fascinated by the cold steel that pierced through his student's body. "So there is something special about you, Hiro!"_

Hiro fought and struggled until he fell off his chair and face planted onto the ground. He fell asleep!

He quickly got up from the ground and began frantically searching his chest through his already opened shirt for any scars or blood. He sighed in relief when found everything untouched.

"Hiro?" It was Professor Stein voice that called out to him. The teacher with the bolt implanted in his head was standing by his desk with the new student standing in front of the class. Hiro assumed that he was who Dr. Stein intentionally called to the front of the class. The recently woken sleeper then turned to the rest of the class, realizing that everyone's eyes were focused on him.

"Is everything okay, Hiro?" Dr. Stein asked, sounding vaguely concerned.

Hiro caught his breath and replied, "Yeah, just a little tired and I must have fallen asleep." He finished his statement with a weak smile to take attention away from the sweat that poured down his face.

Dr. Stein nodded his head. He could see that there was more to the blonde meister than he was letting on. "Hiro, come meet me here after school. I want to talk with you." There was a wave of instigating ooh's that came from the other students as Hiro sat back down. He was in some serious trouble now.

As he sat down, he remembered something from that nightmare that finally caught his attention:

_You're looking for a weapon compatible with your soul wavelength but you've never figured out that it has been inside you the entire time!_

Like last night, Hiro gave it a second of thought. He waited for something inside of him to shout that he was wrong again. But for some strange reason...it didn't.

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**Leave a review and tell me if this chapter was a little too gruesome or if it wasn't gruesome enough. Sorry if this chapter isn't that great...I had to do it over at least fifteen times!**

**Fun fact: The first four chapters each have a holiday reference.**


	6. The Incompetent Weapon

Congratulation! You've won another chapter! YAY!

* * *

**Chapter 6: **

**A Serious Case of Soul Suppression!**

**Hiro the Incompetent Weapon?**

It was late in the afternoon. The yawning sun was slowly descending into the far off horizon. The ringing of the last bell of the day echoed through the school a few minutes ago and everyone was making their way home to start their weekend plans. And as all the students exited the academy, in pairs or in small groups, Hiro staggered down the empty hallways alone.

Today was a tough day for the young meister. After the incident in Professor's Stein's class, Hiro promised himself that he would do everything that it took to stay awake. During class breaks, Hiro rushed and bought so many caffeinated and sugary drinks his body started twitching sometime in the middle of the afternoon. Whenever someone wanted him to fetch some snacks, the tired meister gladly obliged as he found that the cardio kept him up and moving. He even smiled as Black Star twisted his body like it was made of rubber because the pain of all his bones possibly snapping at once made it easier to fight off fatigue.

Despite his exhaustion, Hiro was proud of himself for making it through the day without nodding off once. Yes, he felt the inevitable crash from all those coffees coming closer and closer but he deemed it as a "later problem." All that he had to do now was have his little chat with Professor Stein and he'll be home free. He thought—hoped really—that maybe the time away from school will help him with his nightmares.

A few minutes after the last of the students left the building, Hiro found himself standing in front of the door to the Crescent Moon classroom.

Dr. Stein was his homeroom teacher and one of the strongest meisters in the academy but Hiro was still nervous about meeting him after school like this. He watched Stein as he dissected and dismantled animals for the class to see and the stitched professor always had a smile on his face. A kind of smile that you see on the killer's face in a horror movie before they killed the innocent bystander because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Hiro shivered at the mental images of stitches running all over his body with a giant metal bolt lodged in his skull.

But why else would Professor Stein want to talk to him? Punish him for sleeping in class? If Black Star could start fights and break school property on a daily basis and _not_ get suspended, Hiro shouldn't have to talk with his teacher after school for his one and only offense of sleeping in the middle of class and accidentally disrupting the lesson.

He sighed. Whatever it was, Hiro needed to suck it up and deal with it. With that last thought, he slapped his cheeks to shake some of the sleep out of his dark circled eyes and entered the classroom.

The room was empty as the sunlight from the windows painted the class orange. "Hello?" he said as he slowly closed behind him.

"Over here," a voice called out. Startled, Hiro instantaneously straightened up and turned to where the voice came from. Over by the front desk was Dr. Stein, sitting backwards on his stitched together office chair. Hiro sighed in relief.

"I'm glad that you made it, Hiro," Stein said with a small smile. "There's something I wanted to discuss with you and I think it'll be better if I talk about it today instead of waiting until Monday."

Hiro nodded his head, unsure of where this was all going. The idea of this being all a trap was still fresh in his head. "Alright?"

"Now, before I start, I'm going to need you to be a little more alert than how you are now. I don't want you falling asleep on me again."

Hiro wanted to protest but he felt the sudden urge to yawn. He gave into the tiring proclamation and stretched his arms while doing so, proving Stein right. He guessed that if it wasn't the yawn, his half lid, dark circled eyes and hunched stance would also have proved the seated scientist correct.

_There was no point in lying now,_ he thought. "I would go and grab another coffee," Hiro started, pulling his pockets inside out to show that they were empty, "but I'm a little short on cash at the moment plus I don't think that the cafeteria is open—"

Stein held out his hand, stopping Hiro mid-sentence. "Don't worry about it. I've already have something ready." He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a small tea cup. He handed it over to the exhausted student. "Drink it," he said in a mildly serious tone.

Hiro took a peek inside the tea cup and his face turned pale. The concoction inside the cup wasn't tea. Tea shouldn't look like bubbling black tar and smells like cigarette smoke and wet leaves.

"What is it?" the younger meister inquired, trying not to dry heave in front of Stein. "It smells awful."

"Trust me, the taste is a lot better than the smell," Dr. Stein laughed. "It's a special stimulant that is ten times stronger than any coffee you've ever had. A couple of sips of that and you'll be wide awake in mere seconds."

Hiro stared at his stitched professor and then down at the hot black goop. He could already play out the rest of this scene in his mind: he drinks it, blacks out, and hours later he wakes up to find his right arm missing and a giant blot sticking out of his head. Hiro has seen enough horror movies to know that this is when the protagonist _should_ drop the black liquid of death and start running for his life.

Dr. Stein tilted his head in confusion. "Is there something wrong?"

Hiro snapped out of his thoughts and gave a nervous smile. "Um...no. Nothing's wrong." And to prove it, he silenced the skeptical voices in his head, gulped a dry lump in his throat, and took his first few sips from the cup.

Stein was dead wrong about the taste; it was much _much_ worse than the smell. Hiro almost spat it back into the cup.

"This is horrible!" Hiro admitted in complete disgust._  
_

The professor laughed harder this time, spinning his chair around as if this was all a game. "Yes, but isn't it working?"

Contrary to the taste and aroma, Hiro started feeling the effects of the black stimulant almost instantly. Not only was he still conscious but his blurry vision improved, the numb feeling he had all over his body vanished, and his mind was clearer and focused than before. He felt more awake than he has been over the past few days.

"Yeah actually," Hiro responded in surprise, "I do feel a whole lot better!"

Stein slowed down until he stopped spinning and was facing his student. "Good, now we can begin!" Stein twisted the bolt in his head a few times to the right as his demeanor became more serious. After the third click of his bolt, he proceeded to speak. "Hiro, do you know why you're in the EAT class?"

The question took Hiro by surprise. He thought that Stein had a record of all his students and their abilities but he must have some pieces of information missing.

In all honesty, Hiro didn't know why. During his six months at the academy, he could never figure out why he stood among the élite students of the DWMA. He's always wanted to ask but he never went through with it. His biggest fear was that someone would find that putting him in the EAT class was a mistake and then fix it by putting him in a NOT class.

Hiro didn't want that. It was one of the main reasons why Hiro searched frantically for a weapon that was compatible with him, so that he could convince not only himself but everyone in the school that there was something unique and special about him. But half a year flew by and so far, Hiro has made little progress in proving himself worthy of anything.

_Maybe it's time to face the truth,_ he reluctantly said to himself. The useless meister looked up at his professor and sighed. "No, I don't really know why I'm here." His hands started to get damp as he braced himself for whatever was about to happen next.

Stein's serious and dry demeanor didn't change. "When I first came here to teach this class, I was given files on everybody in the EAT class, describing in detail their ranks, their grades, their talents, their strengths, and their weakness. And when I went through your file, I didn't find anything particular that stood out from any other student, EAT or NOT."

The incompetent meister dropped his head in disappointment and his eyes began to swell up and water. There was no doubt about it now; there was nothing special about him. He has only been fooling himself, believing that he could have been something great. He had no weapon, he had no special powers, and he had no real friends. He truly did deserve the title of "most incompetent meister."

"But there were some things about you that weren't written on your reports." Hiro stopped drowning in pity when he heard the end of Stein's little monologue. Was there still hope for him?

"W-What?" the blonde teen stuttered, wiping the salty tears from the corner of his eyes. "W-What do you mean?"

Dr. Stein leaned forward, pressing his chest into the back rest of his office chair. "Hiro, have you ever heard of something called soul suppression?"

Hiro's eyes widened. This was a serious déjà vu moment. In his nightmare, Dream-Stein said asked the same question. He started to question if this was another nightmare or not but he decided to go along with it. "Uh...is that something like when your soul holds back it true potential?"

The professor shook his head. "You're close but not quite there. I'm guessing that must be what the textbook told you. They really need to update that fossil." Hiro gave a small chuckle. It did also explain how in his subconscious mind, Dream-Stein knew about that little nugget of information.

Stein continued. "Soul suppression is really like having a box around the soul, preventing one from resonating with itself or anyone else's soul. In a way, with a soul restrained in such a fashion, you could say that it stops the meister or weapon from reaching its full potential."

Hiro took a long breath, trying to calm his beating heart. "And you think that's the reason I haven't found a weapon compatible with me?"

The professor adjusted his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. "I've seen you resonating with some of the weapons at the DWMA and what I've noticed is that your soul always seems faint, inactive even. And what ends up happening is that the weapon sees your soul's 'lack of enthusiasm' and rejects you. Soul suppression would explain why your soul seems weaker than the souls of anyone I've ever seen, dead or alive."

Hiro would have cringed at the thought of Stein with dead people's souls but he was too busy trying to process his own predicament. In a way, he felt relieved. He wasn't a bad meister; he was just having problems with his souls. "So how do I get rid of my soul suppression? Do I need to exercise more or train harder or—"

"There are no proven ways to get rid of it," Stein interrupted dryly. "Some people go through this type of illness for days and then it goes away, some have it for years, and on rare occasions, some have it for their entire life."

Hiro pouted. Once again, he assumed the worst before Stein could finish.

Stein sat up straight. "But you don't need to worry about yourself. No, if I had to guess, your soul suppression vanished a while ago."

Hiro blinked in disbelief. "Huh? What?! When?! How?!"

Stein put his hand on his chin, looking up at the ceiling as if it was going to give him an answer. "I think I started seeing an improvement in your soul's wavelength around the time you were with...Excalibur." He finished the sentenced with the patented "Excalibur is annoying" face. He had to turn the bolt on his head to push away his maddening memories of his time with Fool-spouting holy sword to continue. "Sorry. Sorry. Where was I...oh yes! Well despite how...lame he is... you should really thank him. He somehow freed you soul wavelength. Being a holy sword, I guess he should have that kind of power."

Hiro made a mental note to send some cash to Excalibur. He first thought about getting the little weirdo a fruit basket but according to provision #836, all thanks should come in the form of cash.

The blonde meister felt confidence flowing through his veins, a feeling that he hasn't felt since his days with Excalibur. On Monday, he was going to start his search again perfect weapon and this time expected some better results.

As Hiro thought about what type of weapon he was going to search for, Stein shifted in his chair. "Hiro?" Calling out his name got his attention. "Before we go our separate ways, there is one more matter I would like to speak about."

Hiro snapped out of his heroic daze. "Hmm. What is it?"

"Today I ran into the academy's nurse and she told me that you were having these nightmares about a sword."

What really happened was that the mummified nurse, Mira Nygus, came to him yesterday to talk about Hiro. At first, Stein thought that nightmares were something that came with being a teenager and seeing the scary things that happen in this school. It was common around Death City. But after what he sensed from Hiro as he slept in his class, he knew that the nightmares may have a connection with the fact that he recently resolved his soul suppression issues.

Hiro looked down at his feet as he spoke, not entirely proud in talking about them. "Yes, they've bugged me for about a week now and I don't know what to do. I haven't been getting much sleep but the worst part about them is that they feel so real. It's almost like I can feel the sword cutting me open."

"I believe that they have some kind of a connection with the fact that your soul is no longer suppressed."

Hiro looked up and blinked in confusion. "You think they're connected?" He got a head nod in reply.

"As your soul is functioning properly again, I do believe that you shouldn't try in searching for a weapon quite yet."

Hiro's face dropped. "W-What? Why? I thought I was good? Why can't I have a weapon?"

"Simple. If my hypothesis is correct, the reason you're having these nightmares and the reason you shouldn't go looking for a weapon are one in the same...you might be a weapon yourself!"

At that moment, Hiro's world just stopped. Nothing made a sound during this time. He opened his mouth but the words never came out. First it was guilt, then it was madness, and now he was a weapon? That has to be the wildest hypothesis that came to him that week.

He remembered how he felt when he heard the first two, like he already knew they were wrong without investigating too deeply into them. If this was all a cartoon, he would have probably heard the funny sound effect of a game show buzzer after each wrong idea he heard.

But this time was different.

He couldn't say for sure that Stein was right but at the same time, he didn't feel to shoot the idea down like he did with the others.

"What?" Hiro finally said, breaking the silence that hung in the room. He wasn't sure what else to say.

Stein slid his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I said that it might be possible that you were never meant to be a meister. You might be a weapon, Hiro. A sword, even."

"A sword? But that's impossible," Hiro spat back without hesitation.

"Is it?" Stein asked. "After all that time that you haven't been able to use the full potential of your soul, is it not possible these nightmares, as you call them, are just your abilities of being a weapon finally awaking?" Hiro swallowed a dry lump in his throat when he heard how sure the doctor sounded, even though he said it was only a hypothesis. It was because when Dr. Stein experimented, he tested every hypothesis and consider them correct or incorrect after he got his results, never before.

Hiro needed a moment to process all of this. He couldn't have been a weapon. And yet, for the first time, nothing inside him was screaming out that the hypothesis was wrong.

_You're a weapon, _he repeated in his head like a broken record.

_You're a weapon. _

_You're a weapon!_

_You're a weapon!_

His vision started to get a little blurry and his head felt lighter than air. He dropped the tea cup, using that hand to prop himself against the chalkboard, keeping his balance.

"Hiro?" Dr. Stein said, concerned.

The newfound weapon heard the voice call out to him but before he could look the scientist in the face, he collapsed.

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**So Hiro didn't take it too well! ****Leave a review and tell me what you think about soul suppression. Or whether it felt dramatic or not!**

**Also, I love you guys for all the reviews, story alerts, and story favorites that you've sent me! Hiro may not be awesome but he needs some respect too and you're doing it by supporting his story and encouraging me to continue.**

**Next chapter, Victor is going to take the spotlight and we'll see how his day went!**


	7. Chivalrous Fighter

Don't you hate it when a story doesn't get updated for like three months? Me too!

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**Chapter 7: **

**Introducing the ****Chivalrous Fighter! **

**Can Stein Restrain the Madness?**

Professor Stein sighed as he picked up the last piece of the shattered teacup from the floor. His little conversation with Hiro could have gone better. It wasn't as if he was expecting Hiro to just accept the idea that he was a dormant Demon Weapon but he didn't want him to faint either.

Hiro should have focused more on the positives; being a Demon Weapon could have been better for him. For one, it could help rid him of his infamous title as the academy's most incompetent meister. Also, the new title suited him since his strengths and skills weren't up to par with any of the other meisters in his class. Let's face it, Hiro might have been a great student but he wasn't even in the same league as the meisters in the NOT classes.

After disposing the broken teacup and cleaning the "black tea" stimulate from the classroom floor, Stein returned his attention back to Hiro. The blonde teen was still lying unconscious on the floor, his eyes effortlessly shut as if he was only sleeping. Noticing the dark rings under his eyes, Stein could tell that the nightmares were taking its toll on him. They must have been unbearable, to say the least. But as he gazed down at the motionless body, more corrupt thoughts began crossing the doctor's mind.

It was a late Friday afternoon; excluding Lord Death and a handful of faculty members the DWMA was practically a ghost town. The chances of anyone walking by the classroom were incredibly low. In addition to that, he also recalled that his partner, the Demon Hammer, wasn't in the school anymore. Normally Marie kept a close eye on Stein but earlier in the day, Stein somehow managed to convince Marie to head back to the lab early and get dinner started while he spoke about an important matter with Hiro. Apparently Stein's recent progress in suppressing his madness earned him an afternoon without her supervision.

Now he wished he hadn't done that. Because now, Stein found himself in a tempting situation: all alone with a helpless body...and a desk filled with his instruments of dissection...with no one around to stop him!

This set up couldn't have been any more perfect!

A wide and psychotic smile crossed his face. "Maybe I should take another approach in figuring you out!" Stein mused hysterically. He began laughing frantically as his thoughts grew darker. "Why don't I just open your skull and search your brain for any neurological anomalies? And why stop there? I should cut you open just to get a full understanding of your predicament!"

He could already feel it, the madness in his head gnawing at him, telling him to give into his dark desires and shred his student like an unopened present. Ever since the Kishin's revival, his grip on his sanity became unsteady and now he was seriously losing it! The fine line between scientific curiosity and homicide was growing fuzzier by the second!

But Stein was stronger than this! And Marie placed a lot of trust in him for Death's sake! Surely if he could resist succumbing into the madness for this long, he can keep on doing it!

His first act in fighting the madness was to bite down on his bottom lip until he was drawing blood. He needed the pain to distract him from his sickening thoughts. As he felt the slow regain of his sanity, Stein took the opportunity to hurry out of the classroom, slamming the door close behind him. If he stayed in that room a moment longer, he would have given into temptation.

Stein leaned against the door, wiping the beads of sweat that covered his face as he calmed his racing heart. Stein then reached in his lab coat and pulled out a cigarette from its inner pockets. He lit it and took a long, soothing drag. It didn't take long until he started feeling the nicotine working its magic. His nerves were settling and the madness in his head was quieting down. Stein knew Marie hated when he smelt of cigarettes but at the moment, he didn't care.

As he gathered his bearings, blowing skull-shaped white clouds into the air, the calming madman began hearing loud, echoing footsteps. Stein turned to where he heard the rhythmic echoes and was quite surprised to find out that it was one of his students walking down the sunset lit corridor.

"Victor?"

The chocolate skinned student stopped when he heard his name and scanned the hallway for anyone. Soon enough, his hidden eyes caught sight of his stitched professor.

"Oh hey Professor Stein," he greeted. "What's up?"

Relieved that Victor didn't notice his edgy state, Stein continued his collected charade. "Why are you still here? School ended a while ago."

Victor scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. "Oh yeah, about that..."

**~Few Hours Ago~**

_KILL KONG KANG KONG! KILL KONG KANG KONG!_

The school bell rang, indicating that first period classes were about to start, and Victor was eagerly making his way to his first class of the day. Normally, he never cared for school**—**spending hours trapped in a classroom, listening to a boring teacher prattle nonstop was never his cup of tea**—**but from what he gathered from his adventures yesterday, Victor had a feeling that classes at the DWMA were different from other schools.

He couldn't stop replaying yesterday's adventures in his head. Somehow his day just kept getting more thrilling! However, out of everything that happened, the most surprising moment was finding out why Sid was chasing him. After Sid caught the evasive British teen, he was finally able to explain that he only wanted to help Victor get settled at the academy. Victor was quite surprised by the zombie's true intentions but he didn't regret being chased around the school. He found it quite entertaining.

Following the class schedule that Sid gave him, Victor navigated through the DWMA until he reached his destination. It was a classroom with a sign hanging above its door that read "Class Crescent Moon".

"I guess this is my class," Victor said to himself, excitement bubbling in each word. Without a moment's hesitation, he opened the door and entered the classroom.

The grin on his face immediately twisted into a disapproving frown. He felt so deceived! How could a school look like a skull themed fun house on the outside and be so...normal...on the inside? _I should have known,_ Victor thought bitterly. _It doesn't matter where you go...school always suck!_

Groaning in disappointment, Victor took one of the empty seats in the third row and sat down, awaiting the professor's arrival. He wasn't sure about the subject of the class but he guessed that it was going to suck too.

It wasn't long until the late bell rang and all the students making their way to their seats. Victor sighed as he sat up straight in his chair too, bracing himself for the worst.

The class became silent as the front door opened and Professor Stein rolled into class, sitting backwards on stitched office chair. "Good morning class," he greeted casually.

"Good morning Professor Stein," the class replied, except for Victor.

Victor was speechless as he watched Stein journey towards his desk, trying as hard as he could to comprehend what his hidden eyes were seeing. The man had zigzag stitches all over his body and clothes, and to top it off, there was a giant bolt sticking out of his head. Victor felt the need to point out the latter thought but from the way that no one else was reacting towards it, Victor assumed that it wasn't worth mentioning aloud.

Once Stein reached his desk, he stopped and faced the class, taking attendance in his head as he always did. He remained quiet as his eyes roamed around the classroom until he spotted two empty seats in the upper rows.

"Does anyone know where Black Star and Tsubaki are?" Stein asked in monotone.

Victor's brow arched in interest when he heard those names. He would have smirked, knowing that his self-absorbed sparring buddy was in the same class as him but he was too busy trying to figure out Stein's deal to do so.

"They're with Sid," a girl with ash blonde hair answered. "Apparently Black Star got into another fight yesterday and Sid's punishing him."

Stein simply shrugged at the explanation and muttered, "Sounds about right." He continued the attendance until his sight found another unoccupied seat. "Has anyone seen Hiro?"

Like summoning the devil, Hiro unexpectedly entered the classroom when his name was mentioned...and boy, did he look exhausted. The dark rings under his eyes and bad posture drew a detailed picture on how he wasn't getting enough sleep.

Victor remembered bumping into Hiro yesterday and watched him as he made his way towards him. At first, it looked like Hiro was going to say something but no words came out of his open mouth. Victor guessed that he might have sat in his seat but before he could give it back, Hiro sighed and took the empty seat next to him. It didn't look like he had it in him to start a petty argument over a chair. As soon as Hiro sat down, he rested his chin on the table and instantly fell asleep.

"Okay class," Dr. Stein resumed, "now that issue has been taken care of, it is on to today's lesson." And with the new student in the class, I've decided that today's lesson will be a little different than usual." An eerie smile crept on the mad scientist face so everyone feared the worst.

"Victor, will you come to the front of the class?" The students turned to one another with confused looks on their faces at the mentioning of an unfamiliar name. Victor, unsure why Stein wanted him, decided to clear the confusion in the air and stood up. Everyone's attention quickly shifted towards him as he made his way to the front of the room and stood next to Stein.

"Class, meet your new classmate, Victor Elliot Paladin," Stein announced. "Victor here is joining this class because he has a rare ability. Would you care to show the class?"

Victor nodded his head and obliged. He stuck out his right arm and it began to glow. The class stared in awe at the glowing light. As quickly as the light appeared, it faded away, revealing his shining silver gauntlet.

Stein paused to allow his students to gasps in astonishment before speaking once more. "Yes, fascinating, isn't it? Victor is one of the few people in the world that has this ability. It is because he has a rare soul called the Equitem Soul, which allows him to create powerful armor at will..." As Stein continued spouting facts about Equitem Souls, Victor continued waving his metallic arm back and forth. He didn't care for how he could do this, he just loved destroying things with it.

His Show-and-Tell (as Victor called it) lasted for about another two minutes when it was unexpectedly interrupted. The door flew wide open, hitting the wall behind it, and two familiar faces entered the classroom.

"YAHOO!" Black Star shouted as he jumped to the front of the classroom, completely unaware that he was blocking Victor. "Don't fret! It's me, the Great Black Star! I know you all missed me but don't worry, I've finally arrived! HA HA!" The class gave out a tired sigh.

Following the star assassin was Tsubaki and unlike her meister, she entered the classroom quietly with a nervous smile on her face. "Sorry we're late, Professor Stein," she apologized respectfully. "We we're just held up at the library." It was Black Star who was being punished with the mundane task of putting all the books away but knowing Black Star, Tsubaki joined in helping him to get him to finish early. If she didn't, he would have never made it to class.

Stein nodded back and accepted the apology, causing Tsubaki to smile. She then noticed Victor who was standing behind Black Star. "Oh. Hello, Victor."

Black Star's eyes shot open when he heard that name and spun around. Surely enough, Victor was still standing there, waving his metal clad hand at Tsubaki. "Hey Tsubaki."

"It's you," Black Star shouted, pointing an incriminating finger at Victor.

"What's up?" Victor replied happily. "I haven't seen you since yesterday."

Black Star didn't immediately reply. He just narrowed his eyes and glared at Victor. He still had a score to settle with him. Black Star's reputation at the DWMA was for being the strongest and he earned it from fighting and defeating ever single students in a fight at least once or twice. The only person he didn't have a declared win against was Victor and that pissed him off more than most could understand. If there was one thing that Black Star hated as much as losing, it was not winning!

"We never finished that fight yesterday," Black Star stated in a serious tone. His finger still pointed at Victor. "I want a rematch now! You and me! One on one! And I'll show you who the real star of the DWMA is!"

Victor could have just back away. He could have stated the obvious about how they were in class and how they could have this rematch at a different time. Maybe it was the rush of adrenaline but there was something about being challenged to a fight that makes Victor discard logic and most common sense.

He grinned. "You're serious? Okay...let's do it! Another fight! Let's go!" Victor exclaimed.

Forgetting about class, Victor and Black Star rushed out of class and made their way for a better site, somewhere with open space. Unanimously, they headed for the entrance to the academy.

Stein and Tsubaki turned to stop the two fools from ditching class but another matter popped up. It was Hiro. He suddenly woke up and face-planted on to the floor, seeming jumpy from his dream. Stein remembered running into Nygus that morning and how she warned him about Hiro. He also noticed how his soul wavelength has become more attentive in the past few days.

"Hiro?" Professor Stein called out to get his attention. Hiro got up and checked his body for something, Stein guessed scars. When he didn't find any, he sighed happily and Stein called out to him again. "Is everything okay, Hiro?"

Hiro caught his breath and replied, "Yeah, just a little tired and I must have fallen asleep." He finished his statement with a weak smile to take attention away from the sweat that poured down his face.

Dr. Stein nodded his head. He could see that there was more to the blonde meister than he was letting on. "Hiro, come meet me here after school. I want to talk with you." There was a wave of instigating ooh's that came from the other students as Hiro sat back down. He was in some serious trouble now.

Stein shook his head and sighed. He had that to worry about and two wild fighters let loose in the school.

"Do you want me to go stop them?" Tsubaki asked, being the helpful person that she was.

Stein shook his head, declining her off. "Don't bother. Those two are born fighters so getting in between them would be pointless. They're going to fight one way or another. And besides, Sid'll catch them before they get into too much trouble."

Tsubaki nodded and headed for her seat.

**~Present Time~**

"Sorry about ditching class like that," Victor apologized, scratching the back of his head. "I didn't mean to cut like that but...it's just...I just like fighting."

"That's alright. And besides, isn't it one of your chivalrous codes to accept all fights?"

Victor laughed. One of the many things that knights were well-known for was following the Code of Chivalry, an old set of rules that acted as a guideline for how knights were to act and behave. And despite how the code was written centuries ago, Victor followed them. He didn't have to, he just did.

"Never to refuse a challenge from an equal," Victor recited from heart. "If someone I think is a strong opponent challenges me, I will not deny them."

"I see. So who won the fight? I didn't hear any ruckus from the two of you like yesterday."

"Would you believe that we never even got to fight? Yep, Sid caught us before we even made it out of the school. He told me that he only left me a warning about fighting on school grounds the other day because I was new and all. But today, he had me cleaning all the classrooms on the floor above this while he made Black Star clean all the classes on this floor. I guess the blue bloke didn't want us clashing again." Victor laughed. "But why didn't you ask Black Star? Didn't he clean your class?"

Stein shook his head. "No, Black Star didn't come by here at all. You may not know this but Black Star gets in trouble a lot and then shrugs of his punishments. He probably went home long ago."

"I could see that," Victor thought aloud, not once showing any angry in hearing that Black Star left while he had to work. "And I bet he's gonna ask me for another rematch after this stunt. The funny part about it is that I'm actually gonna give it to him!"

As the British teen laughed more at the thought of a rematch with Black Star, Stein returned his focus to his own problems. He still needed to get Hiro out of his class! It was going to be difficult. He couldn't go to the school's dispensary and drop him off there because Nygus was usually gone around this time. And he couldn't bring Hiro back to his home either. Stein almost lost it when he was alone with Hiro for only a few minutes, taking Hiro back home**—**in one piece, mind you**—**would have been impossible. Stein turned back to Victor and suddenly, an idea popped in his head.

"Hey Victor," he asked, grabbing the teen's attention. "Can I ask a favor of you?"

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**I just want to apologize for this long-awaited chapter and hope that you haven't completely abandoned this story. I'm not giving this story up! I'm back and so are Hiro and Victor! The next chapter will hopefully come out quicker and it's gonna get even more chaotic!**

**So leave a review if you want. I can't force you this time since this chapter is so late.**

**Side Note: Equitem is Latin for Knight.**

**EDIT: I didn't feel like the title did this chapter justice so I changed it.**


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